Paragraph 7:6–9
In this paragraph, the father first describes the location from which he watched a married woman begin to seduce a young man. He then describes the young man and the situation he was in before he actually met the woman.
7:6
For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice: This verse introduces the narrator’s story by describing the location from which he observed the events that follow. In many languages it is not natural to begin a story so abruptly. The Good News Translation makes a general time setting explicit by starting the sentence with:
Once I was looking… (Good News Translation)
Notice, however, that the specific time setting, “…as the dark of night set in,” is given in 7:9. See the General Comment on 7:6–9 at the end of 7:9a–b for some ways to reorder the time setting so that it is described at the beginning of the story.
For at the window…through the lattice: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as window refers to an opening that was usually high up in the wall. In this case the window was protected by a lattice, vine-covered trellis, or “shutters” (New Century Version), so that the person inside could look out without being seen from the outside.
I looked through: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as looked through usually means to look down from a height. So it is probable that the narrator was looking down from an upper-story window. Everywhere that this verb occurs, it seems to indicate extended watching rather than a single glance.
In languages where shutters or lattices are unknown, these ideas may be translated by using more general terms. For example:
I was peering down through the window of my house.
-or-
I was peering out of my house.
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